How To Become A Semi Truck Driver With No Experience

There are now over 3 million full time commercial truck drivers in America today. Many people are interested in a trucking career because it offers a relatively high paycheck, flexible work schedule, and has minimal education requirements or relevant experience. You start off with a good salary immediately after you have gotten your commercial drivers license (CDL Class B) without the need to slowly build your career and get pay raises. The average salary for new trucking jobs with no experience is up to $50,000 a year if you are a company driver and more than $100,000 for experienced and independent owner operators that start their own trucking company.

When you are starting out as an employee and drive the company's semi truck fleet, you are usually paid according by the mile and work where and when goods and cargo need to be transported. Do not expect to get weekends off for family time and commercial truck drivers seldom work 9 to 5.

Career prospects is good and well secured as logistics and good distribution have always relied on semi trucks for transportation. There are always open trucking positions available from many companies that wanted to employ responsible and safety oriented semi truck drivers to fulfill their business requirements.

If you are thinking of becoming a commercial truck driver, these are the few things you need to acquire in order to get a full time trucking job with little prior experience in any industry.

The minimum requirements to apply for new commercial truck driver jobs with no experience is a high school diploma or GED. Next will be your driving record because it must be very clean with no traffic citations although some companies are less strict with regard to this. You must not have been convicted due to driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Over speeding tickets are considered minor but you should not have received too many of these as well. You should not be at fault for road accidents or mishaps. Note that all major logistics companies will not employ a semi truck driver with poor driving history over the past 3 years or more.

The legal requirements to drive a large commercial truck will be the commercial drivers license (CDL). This can be attained at your local truck driving schools on your own or some large companies are willing to employ you first and then sponsor you for semi trailer truck driving lessons.   

Driving a big commercial truck is physically draining and each trip can last 8 hours or more. Thus, the interview process for new truck drivers will also involve health and physical check ups such as hearing and eyesight testing to ensure you can avoid road accidents reasonably. Urine and drug testing is also mandatory as trucking companies need to ensure that each of the new drivers they hire is mature and responsible to handle the vehicles and cargo carried.

For a semi truck driver especially those carrying hazardous materials (Hazmat), you have great responsibilities to wards your own safety as well as other road users. You need to get a permit for driving a Hazmat truck which is an additional CDL endorsement for Hazmat operation and transportation. If you like to become a Hazmat truck driver because of the high pay check, contact your state traffic department for any specific rules and tests you need to comply with. For example, Hazmat truck drivers in Texas can approach the Department of Public Safety.

Actually, after you have gotten your CDL endorsement, there are two options to earn money from trucking work. You can either get employed in trucking companies and drive their vehicles, or buy your own semi truck and lease your trucking services and haul freight for businesses that require it. However, it is not recommended for you to become an owner operator after having a few years of experience in the trucking industry. Commercial trucks are very expensive and you need a big loan and down payment to buy your own commercial truck. You also need some good contacts and networking in order to get businesses as an independent trucker.

Becoming a competent semi truck driver and making good money in the process requires a lot of hard work, confidence and total commitment to safe driving on the roads. If you think you enjoy the lifestyle, working conditions and benefits from trucking work, make sure you get all the necessary qualifications to get a commercial truck driver job with no experience required and learn the ropes from there on.